[MCN] Climate Change (Part 4)

[John Meyer]

Before I started Cottonwood I graduated from UM with a degree in Biology (ecology) option. While working for the Flathead National Forest I saw first hand how politics are interfering with the management of our National Forests. I went to law school. 

I was invited to teach part of a Continuing Legal Education seminar at the State Bar of Montana’s Natural Resource Section last year. My talk focused on Cottonwood’s work to open up over 16,000 acres of federal land to outdoor recreation in the Centennial Mountains. The area is closed because the federal government  grazes domestic sheep in the area. After winning two grizzly bear lawsuits, both the Trump and Obama Administrations tried to save millions of taxpayer dollars and stop the sheep grazing in the area. The area would be opened to the public for hiking, hunting, camping, etc, but U.S. Senator Steve Daines passed appropriations riders to keep the area closed to the public. Sheep are no longer grazed there because of Cottonwood’ work, but Senator Daines still won’t let people recreate in the area.  

 After I finished teaching, an attorney for Governor Bullock introduced herself and said the Governor agrees with Cottonwood’s lawsuit to allow Yellowstone bison to repopulate Montana. She said he can't change the management because of the politics. Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks has said that someone is going to be killed because of the dangerous buffalo hunt. The National Park Service biologist said bison need to get farther into Montana to spread the hunt out and ensure hunter safety. 

Please contact Governor Bullock <https://svc.mt.gov/gov/contact/shareopinion> and tell him to postpone the dangerous buffalo hunt to protect human life, restore buffalo to Montana, increase overall hunting opportunities, and increase tourist dollars.

Education 

Earlier this year Cottonwood lost a constitutional lawsuit against the Montana Public Service Commission that would have lifted the cap on the amount of renewable energy that can be net-metered. Basically, net-metering is where you put solar panels on your rooftop and the excess energy you don’t use is fed onto the electricity grid. You can use the credit for the excess energy produced when you need it. 

Cottonwood challenged the regulatory cap that limits the amount of energy that businesses can store on the grid. Lifting the cap would allow businesses to store enough of their own energy that they would never have to buy any from Northwestern Energy. Imagine being a business and not having an energy bill every month.  

The district court said it could not give us the relief we requested. Lifting the cap to help businesses needed to be done through the legislature. 

Conversation Starter

Do you think Montana’s next U.S. Senator would get some traction by introducing federal legislation to lift all state caps on the amount of renewable energy that businesses can produce and store on the grid?


John Meyer
Executive Director & General Counsel 
Cottonwood Environmental Law Center
P.O. Box 412 Bozeman, MT 59771
John at Cottonwoodlaw.org
(406) 546-0149

The information contained herein is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you must delete this email and inform the sender of the error.

Like what we're doing? Click here <http://www.cottonwoodlaw.org/#donate> to donate. 

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